West Virginia Book Festival Announces Featured Authors For 2025

[CHARLESTON, WV]— The West Virginia Book Festival has announced the 2025 featured authors. This years’ festival will feature Pulitzer Prize winning author Jayne Anne Phillips, sci-fi and fantasy author Neal Shusterman, New York Times bestselling author TJ Klune, author and illustrator Rosalie Haizlett, and local novelist Rajia Hassib.

West Virginia Public Broadcasting is a sponsor of the event, along with The West Virginia Library Commission, The West Virginia Center for the Book, The Marshall University Foundation, The Friends of The Library, Tri-State Roofing & Sheet Metal Company and The Spartan Foundation, H.B. Wehrle Foundation, Martha Gaines & Russell Wehrle Memorial Foundation, and the Nelle Ratrie Chilton Charitable Trust.

The Festival will feature:

Jayne Anne Phillips was born and raised in Buckhannon, WV and published her first book at the age of 26. Her book Night Watch was the winner of the 2024 Pulitzer Prize for fiction.

Neal Shusterman is a New York Times bestselling author of more than thirty award-winning books for children, teens, and adults.

TJ Klune is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author. Klune’s latest book, The Bones Beneath My Skin, was released in early February of 2025.

Rosalie Haizlett is a wildlife illustrator and author. She is the author and illustrator of Watercolor in Nature. Her latest book is Tiny Worlds of the Appalachian Mountains.

Rajia Hassib was born and raised in Alexandria, Egypt, before moving to the US at the age of twenty-three. Her first novel, In the Language of Miracles, was a New York Times Editors’ Choice and received an honorable mention from the Arab American Book Award. She holds an MA in creative writing from Marshall University, where she currently teaches

The West Virginia Book Festival will take place on Saturday, October 25 at the Charleston Coliseum and Convention Center. The Festival will feature presentations from bestselling national authors, local and regional authors, writing workshops, family activities, a literary marketplace, and the annual Used Book Sale. All events and programs are free and open to the public.

For more information, visit www.wvbookfestival.org or reach out to the Festival Co-Chairman Stan Howell at stan.howell@kcpls.org.

About West Virginia Public Broadcasting:

The mission of West Virginia Public Broadcasting (WVPB) is to educate, inform, and inspire people by telling West Virginia’s story. WVPB is an indispensable resource for education, news and public affairs, emergency services and economic development. Learn more at www.wvpublic.org or find us on Facebook and Instagram.